Drafting a Curriculum Vitae (CV) for a Law Student: Simple Steps

“First Impression is the last impression”[1] is to a certain extent true, especially for a person looking for a job/ internship. Curriculum Vitae (CV) is a very crucial thing for a law student or any professional who is looking for a job/ internships. CV is the first thing that your potential employer will see before making a decision towards your application. Therefore it is unmistakably important to know how to draft a crisp yet impressionable CV.

That being said, the content of your CV is definitely very important. CV must be attractive but in a good way, it should catch the eye of the employer while not exiting the rigid box of professionalism. Therefore to be able to successfully stand out of the crowds, the following are a few things that every CV must include.

• Personal Information: This includes your name, email, phone number, address etc.
• Educational Qualifications: Includes the details of your degree, scores(CGPA/ Percentage)
• Professional Work Experience: Previous employment records/ internships with a brief about your work there and the period of employment. Write this in chronological order starting from the latest to the oldest.
• Awards/ Achievements: Mention any notable achievements or awards that you have received.
• Publications: If you have gotten any articles, chapters, etc published, mention those with the citation to allow your employer to go through them.
• Extra-Curricular Activities: Talk about all the relevant extracurricular that you are partaking in law school.
• Volunteer Work: All the pro bono work, working for NGO etc must be under this subheading.

These are a few general subheadings that must be a part of a CV. However, it must be noted that every CV has to be custom-tailored for each application according to the place of application. For example, if it is an application to a research organization or an internship for Research Assistantship, the Publication heading can be supplemented by a research work in progress heading or a Subheading of Previous Research Assistantships with brief detail about the work you did there.

Drafting a CV is a skill that is perfected with time and patience; do not rush through the process in order to apply. Spend quality time editing and perfecting the CV before sending in the application to increase the chances of acceptance. Find below a few tips and tricks to keep in mind before drafting your CV on your next job/ internship hunt.

1. CV should be concise and easy to read.
   • In short – do not brag about owning a thesaurus by using complicated terms, rather make it short and simple. You don’t want your employer to not be able to understand what you’re saying or worse appear pretentious.
   • Ideally, CV should not be longer than 2 pages.
   • Use headings and points.
2. Make your CV professional.
   • Avoid the funky fonts and stick to the fonts that look professional.
   • Avoid giving unnecessary details such as marital status, age, gender etc.
   • Do not use pictures or tables in your CV (logo of your institution is okay) as well.
   • Do not write CV or Curriculum Vitae on top, it’s stating the obvious.
3. Be honest about the content of your CV.
   • Integrity is the backbone of every lawyer and the employers usually do run a background check, social media check etc. They see many applications every day, it is easy for them to see through some lies as well.
   • Briefly explain any gaps in your career.
4. Read, proofread and repeat
   • Having spelling mistakes, wrong grammar reflects poorly on prospects of getting hired.  If possible, get a well-wisher to proofread it for you. 
   • Pay attention to every detail and ensure proper formatting.
5. Custom Tailor your CV for every application
   • Every job profile and workplace is different. Research the place you are applying to and tweak your CV to make it the best fit for the workplace. For example, highlight your arbitration moot court experience to apply for an arbitration internship.
   • You may even choose to leave out certain experiences if it is completely different to what you are applying to. For Example – Winning a Hindi elocution competition may not be important while applying to a corporate law firm.
     However, be very careful while editing things out of your CV because not every experience that is non- legal irrelevant.
6.  Make it impressive
   • You are trying to make a good impression on your employer. Don’t be afraid to show off your achievements and skills that support your application.

However, CV alone is not enough to apply. A CV must always be supplemented with a cover letter, even if the employer did not ask for it. A cover letter is essentially a statement of purpose explaining why you are the perfect candidate for the position and what qualities do you bring to the table that will be useful to your employer. Like the CV, it also must be professional looking and brief. Do not talk about everything in your cover letter, it makes CV redundant if you do so.
Give enough details to make your employer look forward to opening your CV. A cover letter can be the body of the email you are sending as well.

Remember, do not excessively stress about the job/internship. Draft your best CV and cover letter, hope for the best, don’t stop working hard.

Happy job/ internship hunting!

[1] Very common idiom in English language. Author: Unknown